


More/Less than Human

by Asylos



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Kidnapping, M/M, Non-consented drug use, Obsessive Behaviour, Unconsented Genetic Alteration, tags to be updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2019-12-25 13:16:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18262076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asylos/pseuds/Asylos
Summary: Leon never really questioned Ada’s first aid skills being the reason he survived his injuries in the sewers of Racoon City, and after that he figured it was just a combination of skill and damned good luck. It never occurred to him there could be more to it than that.An undercover mission to recruit a scientist to the government’s employ leads to the revelation of truths about himself and his past that will leave him questioning his very existence in a place where it is very much not safe to do so. Meanwhile, his friends just want to find him and bring him safely home.(/ indicates italics)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Soundtrack: https://youtu.be/LJhCfJ679Sk  
> Soul Extract: Aphotic Destiny

~Now~

Chris expected to see Leon sitting at the table when he and his team entered the briefing room. He even had a joke ready about how he must be the only agent the DSO employed, since he was the only one the BSAA was ever given when they paired up for a mission. The grin on his face fell instantly when the room was bustling with unfamiliar faces. Several of them. He spotted Ingrid Hannigan and waved her over. “No Agent Kennedy?”

Ingrid shook her head, “I’m afraid Agent Kennedy is already engaged on mission and can’t be recalled. I’ve assembled equivalent personnel to suit the BSAA request.”

Chris chuckled, “I notice it takes what, five people to make up for him?”

“Agent Kennedy has a difficult skill set to replicate,” Ingrid replied. “I did the best I could with as few as I could.”

“Alright, might as well get started then.”

Ingrid nodded and took her seat at the table, connecting her laptop up to the screen. Everyone turned their attention to it as the briefing began. 

A map was displaying on the screen when suddenly the computer beeped loudly and the image was replaced by a new window opening, this one with a video of a dimly lit room and an unfamiliar man, with blood trails dripping from his eyes and nose peering at the screen as he seemed to poke at it. The man was showing clear signs of infection, something everyone in the room was trained to recognize. “Leon, I think it’s working,” he said to someone off screen. He stepped off to the side and none other than Agent Kennedy stepped into view, sitting down in front of the screen. The briefing room went still as Leon pulled off his face mask to reveal a face just as bloodied as the previous man. 

“Why can’t these people just use Windows. Or even Linux. Just something /normal/. The signal is weak but it looks like it’s connected. Good work.” He plugged what looked to be a flash drive into somewhere beside the screen and then stared directly into it. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he typed one handed. “We’ll get this intel out to them, and your letters to your families. The DSO will make sure they get where they need to go.” There were cheers behind him and a group of people moved into view, clapping him on the shoulders, some leaning in to hug him. He smiled. 

Then a beeping sounded and they all checked their watches, the mood turning somber instantly. They looked to Leon expectantly, their faces bloody, and marred with tears, but resolute. “Will you?” one of them asked nervously. “We don’t want to be...”

Leon held up a hand to stop the explanation. It wasn’t needed. He nodded. He pushed the chair back from the computer and stood, pulling his pistol from its holster. They moved further back in the room, just off screen, and the rhythmic sound of gunshots filled the silence. The last of the bodies fell backwards into frame, landing just in view. One shot, back of the head. A clean execution. 

Leon sat back down heavily, and checked the magazine, slamming it back into the gun before dropping it on the desk. He dropped his head into his hands, shaking as he let out a dejected laugh. “Never enough bullets.” He dragged his fingers down his face, smearing the blood across it, looking up at the screen to check the progress of the transfer. His eyes are bloodshot, an angry red. 

“Ingrid,” Chris said, breaking the silence in the room and making everyone jump, “where is he?”

She shook her head, “I don’t know. It was undercover work. Last check in was days ago. He hasn’t made one since.”

“I thought you had a tracker? He was always complaining the government had him chipped.”

“Yes, he was. Everyone and their dog knew about it. Wouldn’t be hard for someone to deal with that.”

They watched as he emptied his pockets onto the desk. A roll of duct tape. A combat knife. Some chewing gum. He stopped when he pulled out a grenade, tossing it back and forth between his hands. “Better wait. Don’t want to risk stopping the transfer.” He set it down on the table and leaned back in the chair with a sigh, staring at the screen intently. His eyes fluttered closed, then his head fell against his chest. The transfer dinged as it finished, but he didn’t stir. 

A loud bang echoed in the room and they saw the metal door go flying by. A hulking figure moved into frame, and Chris recognized it as a tyrant class. It was followed by a slender man in a suit, with a lab coat over it. “What a waste,” the man said as he kicked the body on the floor. He glanced over at the computer, his eyes lighting up as he spotted Leon. He rushed over. 

He turned the chair towards him and took Leon’s face in both his hands, turning his head back and forth to examine it, sighing with relief. “Still in one piece.” He waved to the tyrant who brings a metal case closer and sets it on the desk. The man glances over the desk and spots the roll of tape and grins, grabbing it. He quickly uses it to tape Leon’s arms and legs to the chair, then sits on his lap, straddling him. 

He opened the case, pulling out an injector gun preloaded with liquid. Grabbing hold of Leon’s hair, he turned his head and tilted it to the side so he coukd inject into the artery, then tossed the empty gun back in the case. 

Leon blinked his eyes open slowly, and the watchers in the briefing room can see they’re back to their baby blue again. He coughed up the blood that had been sitting in his mouth and looked up at the face gazing down at him. “Ah fuck, no no.”

The man smiles down at him and tightens his grip on Leon’s hair, stroking his face with his other hand. “I told you I wasn’t letting you leave, love.”

“Why.. why am I not dead.. was there a cure after all?” Guilt started eating at him, that he could have saved these men rather than killing them. 

The man shook his head. “No, no cure. You were never really in any danger from it. Especially not now that you’ve had the final upgrade of the Lazarus.”

“The what?” Leon tested the bindings as subtly as he could, trying to keep him talking as he did. 

“I have spent a long time making sure no one could hurt you, my dearest. Ever since Ms. Wong used my test sample on you back in Racoon City, it’s been my greatest goal.” 

“What are you talking about?” Now he was actually paying attention. What had Ada done? And what did this man know of Racoon City? That was ages ago. 

“Didn’t you ever wonder how you managed to survive everything you did?” A distant explosion echoed through the hull of the submarine and the man sighed as further explosions continued. “Are you sinking my sub?”

Leon grinned, blood visible on his teeth, “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“Did you plant any explosives on my escape shuttle?”

Leon quickly tried to hide his disappointment but he could tell the other man saw it. “Guess I missed that.”

The man climbed off of him and signalled the tyrant, who picked up the chair, with Leon on it, despite the agent’s protests. “We’ll have to finish this conversation later.”


	2. Chapter 2

~Earlier~

“Do these pants make my ass look too big?”

Claire dropped the gun magazine back on the table. “This is so surreal.”

“Shut up, it’s been years since they’ve sent me somewhere where I had to worry about looking presentable to another human being, let alone ‘pretty’.”

“Well, it’s all relative. Maybe he likes big butts. What do you know about this guy?”

Leon grabbed a file folder and tossed it to her. He turned to look in the mirror again. 

She flipped through the file. “I can’t tell anything from this really. He might not even care if you’re human.”

“Thanks for boosting my confidence. You’re a great friend.”

“Just relax, Leon. I’m sure it’ll be fine. They wouldn’t be sending you otherwise.”

He sighed and took the file back, sitting down on the couch across from her, curled in on himself on one cushion.

“This one is really getting to you.”

“I just don’t like it,” he said, flipping though the pages again. “Pretending to care what this guy thinks for a week? This isn’t what I do. We have other people for that kind of stuff.”

“So why /are/ you doing it then?”

“Ada said-“

“Wait, Ada’s mixed up in this?” Claire said, leaning forward in her chair, frowning. “God, don’t tell Chris. Why are you still dealing with her?”

“Hey, she’s a ... reliable source.”

“Leon, how many times has she almost gotten you killed by now!”

“She always has a plan and a rocket launcher handy.”

“Oh, so that’s the trick to instant forgiveness with you, is it? Big guns? You wouldn’t need the rocket launcher if she didn’t put you in those situations.”

“Claire, fighting the monsters is my job. That part would happen anyway. And I didn’t call you over for a lecture.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. We shouldn’t spend what little time we get to see each other fighting.”

“So my /source/ suggested things could go bad at any time, and there’s a high risk of competing companies getting involved. She said it was too hot for her to to even pick a side right now. The DSO doesn’t want to risk sending in someone without the experience to tell who’s who.”

“And you’re supposed to what, get close to him and then recruit this guy?”

Leon nodded, “Ideally. That or just blow everything up like usual.”

“I get the feeling you add that last part yourself.”

“Always need a plan B.”

“Well right now, plan A involves us going to dinner. I’ve got reservations at the fanciest place in town so you can remember which forks are for what before this cruise and hopefully not embarrass yourself too badly. You’re buying, by the way.”

“I am, am I?” he grinned back.

“Of course! Government salary and all that. I’m sure you can even charge it as an expense.”

——

Leon had never actually been on a cruise ship before, since all of his attempts at vacations were rudely interrupted before they could get off the ground, so when Claire asked if he got sea sick, he didn’t have an answer for her. It hadn’t even occurred to him. Standing on the dock, looking up at the ship itself, he really hoped he didn’t. That would not only put a real strain on the mission, but he’d never hear the end of it back at base. The teasing would be even worse if Chris found out. Leon doubted that man would ever admit to any flaws where anyone could hear it. 

He let the crewman take his bags once they checked his ticket and followed to his room, grateful to get out of the sight of people and into a quiet space. There were a lot less people than he was expecting, but it was still more than he felt up to dealing with right now. He’d nearly jumped another passenger who was openly wearing an Umbrella logo jacket on the way in. He needed to get himself under control. His fingers kept twitching, reaching to check weapons he didn’t have. He felt naked without them. He had the sudden childhood memory of being told to sit on his hands if he couldn’t keep control of them. He laughed at the absurdity of it all. He could do this. He was a perfectly reasonable adult with impulse control. He didn’t need to shoot everything with an Umbrella logo on it and he was perfectly capable of going a few days unarmed. 

He put his suitcase on the table and felt around inside for the hidden catch, pulling out the encoded communicator. He sent a quick signal to Ingrid to let her know he was on board. There was no response, but he wasn’t expecting any. The more transmissions that were sent, the greater the chance they would be detected. He secured the device again before exploring the room a bit more to find the bathroom. 

He checked his reflection, running his fingers through his hair to get it into place again, then took a deep breath. He could do this. 

—

The end of the first day at sea left Leon lying awake, staring at the ceiling, utterly irritated. He hadn’t even spotted the man he was supposed to be looking for. He had spent the entire day pretending to be enjoying a vacation while inside he was cross referencing every detail he observed. He was sure the woman who had bought him a drink worked for another of Umbrella’s competitors, but he wasn’t sure which one, and he didn’t have his computer to check. He knew the names of at least half the guests from the various party games he’d joined in on. (And if he never saw Twister again in his life, he’d be quite happy. Even if he did get several flattering compliments on his flexibility, it wasn’t worth fighting his instincts to throw anyone making physical contact.)

—-

Sitting down with a plate stacked with food, Leon took a deep breath and smiled at the smell. This, /this/ made it all seem worthwhile. Pancakes. Scrambled eggs. Sausages. Perfectly browned and buttered toast. This was a /breakfast/. There was even more things back at the buffet table that hadn’t fit on the plate. He could tolerate this forced socialization if each morning was going to start with this bounty. 

Someone sat down across from him at the table and he spared them half a glance before spearing one of the sausages with his fork, rolling it in the pool of syrup dripping from the pancakes. 

“They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” the newcomer said.

“They’re right,” Leon replies, biting into the meat. He looked up and carefully kept the surprise from his face as he recognized his quarry. He was better looking than the grainy photo had led him to believe, but clearly recognizable. “Aren’t you having some?”

“I ate earlier. I’m afraid my work has me trained to early mornings. Don’t let me interrupt you though. I hope you don’t mind the company?”

Leon shook his head, “Not at all, as long as you don’t find it rude if I keep eating.”

The man chuckled. “Of course not, you were already eating when I decided to sit here. Besides, it’s nice to see someone so excited for breakfast.”

Leon blushed and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “It’s a bit of a thing. I tend to miss it a lot with my work.”

“That’s no good. What do you do.. sorry, we haven’t been introduce. Kade,” he said, holding out his hand. 

Leon set down his fork and wiped his hand off on his pants before taking the other man’s hand to shake it. “Leon.”

“Leon,” the man repeated. Leon could help but feel like the man was tasting it. A sudden ringing startled them both and the drew apart as the man fumbled for the phone in his pocket. “Apologies,” he said, frowning at the screen, “I need to take this. I’ll be right back.”

Leon nodded politely, and watched as the man moved around the corner.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time he had finished with breakfast, Kade had not reappeared. He made a quick detour to his room to signal that he had made first contact, then headed out to the public areas to see if he could spot him. 

The ship’s deck was surprisingly quiet. There were a few guests sunbathing, but that was about it. Even the woman who had bought him a drink yesterday just had a whispered conversation with someone then disappeared back below deck. Clearly there was a party somewhere, and Leon hadn’t gotten an invitation. He decided to try the direct route.

“Seems pretty empty out here. Is there an event going on?” he asked the bartender after placing an order for a drink. It wouldn’t look that unusual to drink right after breakfast. It was practically expected on a trip like this. 

The bartender mixed the drink from various unmarked containers with a flourish before setting it on the counter. “A number of guests are here on a corporate retreat and unfortunately had some team building exercises or something mandated by the company. They’ll be back soon. You should enjoy the peace while you can.” He gestured over to a book on the bar. “Someone left some reading material behind if you need something to keep you busy while you wait for some company.”

“Thanks.” He grabbed the book then turned back to get his drink, heading to one of the umbrella covered lounge chairs. He glanced at the cover and snorted. /The Andromeda Strain. A bit too close to home./ He tossed it on the side table and lay back on the chair, sipping his drink and considering his options. He could poke around, try to find this meeting they had neglected to invite him to, and risk blowing his cover on day two, or he could just wait it out and .. nap. He hadn’t realized before how exhausting the sun and heat was when you weren’t pumped full of the adrenaline of fight or flight. That had to be why he was feeling so tired, considering he’d only been up long enough for breakfast. 

Leon blinked his eyes open groggily when he heard his name, but didn’t open them fully until he felt someone touch his arm. Whoever it was was lucky he was still hazy enough not to smash the glass he was holding onto their face out of habit. /God, no wonder I don’t date,/ the voice in the back of his head helpfully chimed in at that realization. 

“Leon?”

This time he was conscious enough to recognize the voice and sit up slowly as the world came back into focus. “Sorry, must have fallen asleep.” He set the glass on the table. 

Kade chuckled, “I did notice. That’s why I was trying to wake you up after all. Did you want to come to dinner?”

Leon looked up and for the first time realized that the sun had set. He swallowed his unease and smiled up at the man who was still waiting on an answer. “Absolutely.”

—-

Leon was grateful for the crash course with Claire because the number of forks would have been intimidating otherwise. It would be enough to defend the room from a small army, he noted. Kade had chosen seats with a good view of the exits, something else Leon was grateful for, but he wasn’t about to explain why to his companion. 

“You have to try this,” Kade said, cutting off a piece of his steak and moving it onto Leon’s plate next to his chicken. 

Leon stared for a moment at the ridiculousness of a stranger putting their food on his plate before remembering he was supposed to be playing the part of someone far less paranoid, and far more open to whatever this interaction was. He speared the meat with his fork and put it in his mouth. It was actually quite good, and Leon made an appreciative noise as he chewed. He was about to comment on it when a shadow fell across the table and he looked up to find a familiar figure. His blood froze in his veins. Albert Wesker was the last person he expected to see on a cruise ship. 

“How ... /nice/ to see you, Agent Kennedy.” Wesker turned his attention to the other man. “You do so like playing with fire, Kade. Ms. Wong was not exaggerating.”

Leon bit his tongue to keep from growling under his breath. He knew the name drop was for his benefit. 

“I’m docking your pay for this little display,” Kade said, barely glancing up from his plate as he stabbed his fork into some green beans. 

“I should expect the opposite with how much you’re putting at risk.”

“You already know who I am?” Leon asked Kade. 

“Everyone does,” Wesker snorted. 

“Then you know why I’m here?”

Kade looked up at him and smiled. “So I can seduce you and convince you to work with me?” 

“I- no,” Leon blushed, “that’s not it at all.”

A beep came from the overhead speakers, followed by an automated voice, “Security breach, level three.”

“Definitely docking your pay,” Kade said, glaring at Wesker. 

Wesker turned with a growl and was gone in a blur of motion. Leon swallowed. Chris has told him how fast the ex-STARS captain was, but seeing it first hand was another matter. That was... impressive. And really fricken intimidating. And definitely more than he could deal with, considering he didn’t even have any weapons. 

“That man is a very dangerous, wanted criminal,” Leon said quietly. 

Kade shrugged and went back to eating his dinner, gesturing for Leon to do the same. “He does what he’s paid to, usually, and he’s good at it.”

Leon turned towards him more fully, “I’m not sure you understand, he’s infected-“

“Leon dear, I do. I know all about it and it’s really nothing you need to worry yourself about. Let’s just finish dinner, okay? Then if you still want to talk about it, we can.”

The speakers turned on again with a sharp hiss of feedback. “Emergency lockdown engaged.” The distant sound of shifting metal echoed through the ship. 

Kade dropped his fork down on the table with a sigh. “Clearly a nice dinner is just too much to ask for.” He stood and offered a hand to Leon. “Come on, we’d better head downstairs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re almost caught up to when chapter one takes place. 
> 
> For reference, I’m going by Remake history for RE2.


	4. Chapter 4

“Wow,” Leon said, stepping back against an empty space on the wall to get out of the way.

Kade glanced back at the agent as he looked around the busy control room. “Not what you expected?” Leon shook his head. “Then perhaps I owe Ms. Wong an apology. I expected her to spoil something at least. I’d offer you a seat but they’re all taken by these people who are busy doing the jobs they are paid for.” He glared over at Wesker as he said the last part. The man was leaning over to look at a security monitor and chose to ignore the comment. 

“What’s the status?” Kade asked as he approached one of the staff sitting at a computer.

“Emergency lockdown is engaged.”

“Yes yes, we all heard that part. Tell me something new. Do we need to separate?”

“Sorry Sir. Ah yes, probably a good idea.”

“Separate?” Leon asked.

Kade nodded, “We’re going to drop the lab section down from the rest of the ship.” There was a loud clang and a slight shift in the air pressure, but that was the only noticeable change.

“My stuff is up there.”

“So are all the civilians. And I think we can handle this fine without you calling in your employer.”

“What exactly is it that needs handling?”

“Keep him out of my way, Kade,” Wesker growled as he moved towards the doorway, “or I won’t be responsible for what happens.” 

Kade sighed and ran his fingers through his hair to push it back into place. This wasn’t going according to plan at all. “Let’s go somewhere more private so I can explain. I don’t want to get in the way of these people doing their jobs.”

“Okay.” Leon followed him down the hallway and went into the attached room when Kade held open the door for him. He sighed when the door closed behind him. /I can’t believe I fell for that./ He tried the handle anyway. “Kade, open the damn door.”

“Just stay there for a bit while I sort this out. I’m not letting you leave, not now that I finally have you here, and we will talk about it, I promise, but there’s just no time right now.”

“Kade, you can’t build a relationship on locking people in offices.”

“I know this is far from ideal, but you’ll be safe in there. I’m sure you’ll forgive me when there’s time to explain.” The sound of retreating footsteps followed and Leon gave up hope on that approach. 

—-

Half an hour later found him in an unmanned security room strapping on the last of the gear he had confiscated as alarms blared overhead. He knew he wasn’t the cause, so he could only assume things had continued to escalate during his daring office room escape. 

He had stumbled over several heartless corpses marked with the Umbrella logo, (Wesker’s work, he assumed) and the gear he was putting on had no logo at all, so his best guess was Umbrella was the assaulting party. Which was something he was plenty comfortable with. Though he supposed at this point both sides were enemies. Kade was clearly up to no good down here with the whole secret lab set up, and certainly wasn’t giving any indication that he wanted to come along to sign up with the government. Leon may not have been able to make his case yet, but Kade knew why he was there.

He pulled down the soft face mask, took the gun from the holster, and ducked into the hall. His ammo was limited, but that wasn’t unusual. He’d just have to play it smart, and let them take each other out as much as possible. And avoid Wesker. He really didn’t have the tools for dealing with that monster. 

——

Leon ducked into the closest room and closed the door behind him as quietly as possible, locking it and leaning against it. Then he realized the room wasn’t empty. He looked over the ragtag bunch of people, and the blood trails from their eyes and noses. They looked nervous though, not violent, so they hadn’t turned yet. He lifted a finger to his lips and they nodded. Heavily booted footsteps moved past the door, trying the door handle and moving on when it didn’t open. He waited until the sounds moved around the corner of the hall, then lowered his gun. One of the people took a step towards him and he raised the weapon again. The man held his hands up defensively. “Are you with security?”

Leon shook his head, “Not exactly.” He lifted his cloth face mask. 

Recognition dawned on the face of the man. “Agent Kennedy.”

Leon frowned, “How do you know who I am?”

“I’ve seen your file.”

“I have a file?” He shook his head. “Never mind, we don’t have time for that. You’re infected. Where’s the antidote?”

The man’s face fell and his shoulders started to shake. “There isn’t one. It’s... it’s not ours.”

“What?” Leon rubbed at his eye to stop it from itching, staring down in surprise as his glove came away bloody. /Well. That’s not good./

“They threw in these canisters before they came in. They looked just like the ones they use for tear gas on those terrible cop shows my wife likes,” the man said with a disheartened laugh. “Jenna hit one of them with a fire extinguisher and then they just looked around and left. Didn’t even check on the one she hit.” He gestured to a body on the floor. 

Leon moved over to the body and pulled off the gas mask. “They’re already infected. What the fuck? Goddamn psychos.” A snarl came from the corpse as it sat up, lunging at him, and he shot it through the head. “Some kind of suicide squad? Jesus. This is bad.”

“You have to stop this, that’s what you do, right? The closest land is populated. All our safety protocols are designed to stop our work from getting out and all of that’s been locked down so tight we can’t even force a breach. There’s nothing that will trigger on something else being brought in.”

He looked up at the group of “survivors”.   
“Are any of you science staff? Can you get any information on this that we can get out to my people?”

“Jenna and her partner can run some data on it, but not enough to get an antidote in any reasonable time.”

“Get to it then. Take samples from anyone here, including this one,” he said, kicking the corpse. “See if you can scrape anything off those canisters too. Every bit will help the next team.” Leon pulled the fire plan from the wall and smoothed the map out over the table. “What’s your name?” he asked the man who had been acting as spokesman so far. 

“James.”

“Alright James, help me out here. Is this the only communications room?” He pointed to the map and James nodded. 

“Yeah, you’ll have to get there to send anything off ship while the lockdown is on.”

“Okay, next question. What do you have around here that I could make some bombs with?”

—-

Leon managed to get back into the room after placing his makeshift bombs without having used up any more of his dwindling ammunition supplies. He’d even managed to scavenge a few more supplies off of corpses along the way. He hadn’t found any more survivors. Mostly just locked doors, eerie silence in the halls and the sounds of the infected behind the doors. He was alarmed with some of the structural damage he’d seen. There was something big out there fighting the invaders, not just Wesker. Unless he had more abilities than Chris was aware of. That was a scary thought. 

He headed over to James to check up on how things were going. Jenna came over with a set of syringes and James pulled up his sleeve so she could take a sample. Leon moved to do the same but James stopped her from proceeding. “You’re no good for this.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me, you’ll confuse the samples. I can’t explain why.”

“Is this related to why I have a file?” James nodded. “Just tell me. We’ll all be dead in less than an hour anyway.”

James shook his head. “Anything else you need Jenna?”

She turned to Leon, fidgeting nervously with the vial in her hands. “We were wondering... if there’s enough time, after you send out the important information of course, could you send out some personal information?”

“Anything you send will be read by the DSO, and I can’t guarantee it’ll get where you want it to, but I don’t see why we can’t try. Sending a letter home?”

“I never bothered updating my will after I left Umbrella. It seemed pointless when working there, but we’ve got life insurance here.”

Leon frowned. “You used to work for Umbrella?”

James gave her a warning look, but she ignored him and answered anyway. “Pretty much all of us did. At least, in the research departments. Anyway, just going to add this last sample and we’ll be done.” She smiled, cheerful and sad at the same time. It reminded Leon of when he would run into Claire during during their encounters in Racoon. 

“Tell me James,” Leon said as he watched Jenna heading back to her computer, knowing it wouldn’t be long before she and everyone in this room would be dead, “why do you do it? Why work for a company like this, or Umbrella? Why do this kind of work?”

“Why do you kill people for a living?”

“I kill the monsters the people like you end up making.”

“It’s not just monsters and you know it. You’ve killed plenty of people, honest people just doing their jobs, with families waiting for them to come home for dinner. Umbrella is just one of the worst. They snatch up people fresh out of school, trick them with tales of saving humanity from death and disease. Most people there don’t realize what their work is really being used for by the higher ups.”

“How can you not know?”

“Little pieces of a bigger picture. When you’re only allowed to see what’s in front of you, you don’t see the connections. You should know what that’s like.” James sighed. “Come on, looks like they’re done. Let’s see this off.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place immediately following chapter ONE.

~Now~

“What took you so long?” Wesker grumbled as Kade entered the shuttle. 

“Had to grab my luggage,” he replied. He pulled off his tie, crumpling it up and dropping it on the table. His suit jacket was tossed over the back of the chair before he sat at the controls and started up the system. 

Wesker watched the tyrant set down the chair with Leon taped to it and sighed. “Really? That’s what you went back to get?” He grabbed the tie off the table and shoved it in Leon’s mouth. “I expected it was some important project you couldn’t live without. We could have just left with the samples I already gathered.”

“We’re leaving now, it’s fine,” Kade said without looking up. Once the shuttle was in motion he sighed and dropped his head into his hands. “Well that went to shit.”

“You can’t deny you baited them,” Wesker said. 

“No,” Kade sighed again. “But I expected them to retort in kind, not to bring dirty bombs on my ship. I lost a lot of good people. This game isn’t fun anymore.”

“Perhaps it’s time you followed my advice and stopped playing then.” Kade glanced between Wesker and Leon, pondering. Wesker followed his gaze. “I hope you’re not expecting the DSO to do anything worthwhile about it.”

“No, too much red tape. But between you two and Mr. Bubbles here,” he gestured to the tyrant. 

“Mr.... Bubbles..?”

“He’s been watching videos of some game. I’m not going to tell him how he has to identify. I’m sure he’ll pick something new next week.”

“Are you sure it’s wise to let it watch that kind of thing?”

“I’m in the room Albert, I’m not a complete absent parent.”

“It’s not your child.”

“He’s as good as! He’s my responsibility.”

“And you want to send your ’child’ off to war.”

“I never claimed to be up for ‘mad scientist father of the year’. Besides, my best competition for that award has been dead twenty years, so it would be a default win.”

Wesker growled, “Don’t bring him into this.”

“Don’t be an ass and I won’t.” He got up from the console and pulled a combination first aid and tool kit off the wall. He rummaged around in it and pulled out a small flashlight. He grabbed some sterile wipes as well, then moved over to Leon, sitting on his lap again. Leon grunted and looked up at him. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” 

He tore open one of the wipes and used it to gently clean the blood from Leon’s face. He then took the flashlight and shined it into his eyes. Leon flinched back. Kade grabbed his chin to hold him still until he was finished. “How are you feeling? I couldn’t exactly test it on anyone.” Leon grunted. Kade looked at him and finally noticed the tie. “Albert!”

“What? I assumed you’d rather I didn’t kill him.”

“Pay. Docked.” He pulled the tie out of Leon’s mouth and tossed it to the floor. “I am so sorry. This whole thing has left me a bit out of sorts, as you can imagine. Now, how are you feeling?”

Leon stretched his jaw before replying. “Confused.”

“Medically or just in general?”

“In general I think.”

“That’s okay then,” Kade said, sounding relieved. “I realize there’s a lot to take in here, and I promised we would talk, but this isn’t the time or place.” He quickly glanced back at Wesker, who was busying himself at the shuttle controls. Leon nodded, getting the hint. “Right,” Kade said, getting up and stretching. “We’ve got about three hours until we reach our destination.”

“Can I get up?” Leon asked. 

Wesker replied immediately without looking back, “No.”

“But I need the bathroom.”

“You can go where you are and I’ll burn the shuttle later.”

“Albert, you’re being unreasonable. What harm would it do?” Kade said. 

“/You/ have lost the privilege of having an opinion today,” Wesker said, turning and jabbing a finger at him. “So sit down, and be quiet for the next three hours, or I will just kill the both of you and dump the bodies at the bottom of the ocean.”

“You’ll never get paid that way.”

“You keep threatening my pay like I don’t already have a way to access your accounts.”

“You what ..?” Kade sighed and sat down on the chair. He grumbled something under his breath and Wesker glared at him. “Right right. Shutting up.”

——

“Hannigan, I want a copy of those files,” Chris said as the video cut out with the sound of explosions. 

Ingrid shook her head, “That’s not up to me. I’ll forward them to the DSO and they can decide what to do with them. If they feel your expertise is required, they will call you in.”

“This can’t wait for that much paperwork, we need to move on this now.”

“Captain Redfield, we are here to deal with a crisis already in progress.” She lowered her voice, “I understand Agent Kennedy is your friend, but he is still just one person, and we are dealing with the lives of potentially hundreds here.” 

Chris flinched back at the reprimand. He knew she was right, but he still didn’t like it. There was no telling what was happening to Leon. The idea that he was trapped at the mercy of some mad scientist made him sick to his stomach. “You’re right, please continue.” He kept one eye on the screen as she started the briefing again and the other on his phone as he pulled it out under the table. After a quick check to make sure it was silenced, he sent a message out to the group chat he always had going with the rest of the Racoon survivors. 

—-

“Another boat?” Leon said, eyeing the houseboat from his chair as it was carried into it from the shuttle. 

Kade glanced back, “It’s good to keep moving, especially under the circumstances.”

“Afraid someone might be tracking us?”

“If you’re thinking of the government tracking chip, you needn’t worry, that’s gone.”

“You removed it? When? I didn’t even notice...”

“I should hope not, I don’t employ half-rate surgeons. And you were unconscious at the time, of course. Though the original placement was quite frankly shoddily done. It was far more of a psychological leash on a traumatized young man trained to take orders at face value. I imagine it was even a comfort at first, until you realized they weren’t actually going to send in reinforcements.”

Leon didn’t have a response for that. He couldn’t really argue it. “You didn’t answer when.” 

“After breakfast. It was the first chance we got. Well, only chance really with all that happened. Normally I wouldn’t recommend any kind of procedure so soon after food but it was just minor and I know how important breakfast is to you.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Let’s get you free from there and go talk in our room.” Kade gestured for Mr. Bubbles to set down the chair and the tyrant pulled the tape apart. Leon got up from the chair as quick as his cramped legs would let him. The tyrant picked up the chair and tossed it back off the boat towards where Wesker was emptying a container of gasoline into the shuttle they had left. 

“He really is going to burn it.” Leon rubbed his wrists and followed Kade further into the new boat. 

“I realize there’s only one bed but I assure you this isn’t some romantic movie set up and I am far too distraught to make a move on you in the middle of the night. I have so many next of kin letters to write.”

“You don’t have an assistant for that?”

“He.. he was on the boat. He liked whale watching.” Kade sighed and sat on the bed, hugging one of the pillows to his chest. “You know, that’s one of the most irritating things. No matter how hard we hit them, no one at Umbrella is going to sit there doing this kind of paperwork. They don’t care. They didn’t even let my coworkers get me a condolences bouquet when my father died? They just wrote us up for socializing on company time. What kind of assholes do that.”

“Yeah, that’s... something.”

“But these kids, they don’t know any better. It starts in the schools. They tell you it’s all about sacrifice. You have to sacrifice everything if you’re going to succeed and make a difference. The whole system is flawed.”

“I can get behind this whole rant, it makes sense, it does, but it doesn’t explain why I’m here and still human for that matter.”

“Oh Leon.”

“The way you said that, that makes me really uncomfortable.”

“Leon dear, you haven’t been fully human for a long time. Not since Racoon City.”

Leon let himself fall into the chair that had been behind him. He swallowed the cotton feeling that filled his mouth. “What are you talking about? Is this to do with what you said about Ada?”

Kade shifted on the bed so he was sitting on the edge, facing the other man straight on. “Leon, that bullet you took for her would have killed you, left alone in the sewers like you were. She knew that. And she knew she was going to need your help. She did something she wasn’t authorized to do, but neither of us have regretted since.”

“Explain.” He thought he heard a shuffling outside the door but he didn’t care. He needed answers. 

“Ms. Wong had a prototype of something I was working on. She was supposed to give it to William. Birken, that is.”

“I remember who he is,” Leon said flatly. 

“Right. I was hoping to recruit him out of that mess over to work with me instead. I knew he was planning to sell his work out from under Umbrella but I didn’t think he’d planned much past that. Umbrella already had my contact blocked so getting messages in was tricky, so I had to hire outside help.”

“So you were the one that hired Ada?”

“One of. She’s not adverse to working more than one angle. I...didn’t know that at the time.”

Leon frowned, “So you weren’t the one after the G virus?”

Kade shook his head, “Not to belittle his work, but that project was flawed from the start. Too unstable.”

“Just up Umbrella’s alley,” Leon snorted. 

“Exactly! But since it was done, it was the perfect time for him to start something new. Something worthwhile.”

Leon nodded. “Not to be egotistical, but back to me.”

“Yes. Ms. Wong had the file on the prototype so she could give it to William, so she knew the basics of what it could do, and she decided to use it on you, to keep you alive. She knew it would stabilize your wound, help it heal, and make you more durable for the trials ahead. It was still just a prototype so it wasn’t going to work miracles, but it would be enough. I imagine she thought at the time that it was temporary.”

“Oh god, it wasn’t- it’s not contagious is it?” The faces of everyone he’d ever been in contact with flashed before his eyes. While it didn’t sound terrible, these kinds of things always had a drawback.

“Not at all. It was designed to attach to the host and start making changes gradually to their genetic makeup, so as to not shock their system. All its efforts are focused inwards to create improvements in resilience.”

“So what you’re saying,” Leon said, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees, “is that Ada injected me with some untested virus that made me into some kind of mutant and no one at the government noticed over the last twenty years of extensive post mission medical checks.”

“Some did. It hasn’t been cheap keeping things under wraps.”

“Why bother?”

“Well I certainly didn’t want you stuck in one of /their/ labs,” Kade scoffed. 

“Field data is more useful, right?”

“That’s true, but I just wanted to see what you’d make of yourself. Ms. Wong’s report was quite interesting, and hinted at a lot of potential.”

“She gave you a report on me?”

“There would have been consequences if she hadn’t had a good reason for what she did. She made a compelling case. With some ... convincing photographic support.”

“She wouldn’t-“ Leon watched Kade’s cheeks flush and shook his head, “no, she would. She definitely would.” He sighed and brushed his hair back from where it had fallen in front of his eyes. “This is.. a lot.”

Kade nodded, “I completely understand. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

“I don’t want to sleep here.”

“Wesker has the only other bedroom, so the options are kind of limited,” Kade said, frowning. 

“I’d rather share the front room with Mr. Bubbles,” Leon said, heading towards the door. He pulled it open and saw Wesker disappear around the hallway corner. 

“He snores!” Kade called out. 

He waited to see if Leon would come back. With a sigh of disappointment he decided to go find Wesker in his room down the hall. 

“Don’t come in here pouting about being rejected and expecting sympathy,” Wesker said, as Kade closed the door behind him. 

“He’ll come around, he just needs some time to process it all. You’re not jealous are you?”

“Jealous? No. I’m not jealous. What I am is pissed. I have been sitting here reevaluating all of my failures and wondering how many of them can actually be traced back to your meddling in the genetics of my enemy. And I’m also pissed about Ada Fucking Wong knowing more about this situation than I do.”

“Ah, so you /are/ jealous. I just had the wrong target in mind.”

“Get out. Get out, and find me something to break, Kade. It’s not good for me to be bottling up this much anger. It makes my skin crawl in ways I don’t like.”

“Yeah, you are getting a bit..” Kade gestured to his eyes and Wesker snatched up his sunglasses to put them back on. 

“Out.”

“Yep, going. Night Albert.”

 

——-

Claire put her hand on Chris’ arm to stop him from putting the spare key in the lock, then held her finger to her lips for silence. She pointed at the narrow gap at the edge of the door. She couldn’t explain it to her brother, not without potentially alerting someone inside, but it was clear to her that someone other than Leon or his landlord had been, or was, in the apartment. He had complained that the door needed an extra push to close when she was here last, or more specifically, complained about how the landlord still hadn’t fixed it after several months of requests. Which meant whoever was here didn’t know about the long-standing problem. She couldn’t explain it to him, but Chris knew well enough to trust his sister, and moved into position at the side of the door, weapon at the ready. 

Slowly, quietly, she pushed the door open. It wasn’t until the bedroom that they encountered anyone. “Ada,” she said, grumpily.

“Ah, Redfield...s. Multiple.”

Chris stepped around Claire, pointing his gun at the woman. “Give me a good reason not to shoot you.”

“Murder is illegal?”

“They’ll never find the body.”

Claire sighed and pushed the gun aside as she stepped past her brother to see what Ada had been doing. “Having some trouble breaking into Leon’s weapon drawer?”

“Just a little.”

“Shame. Guess he doesn’t trust you with the passcode like the rest of us,” Chris said, smirking. 

“I probably should have just asked, but I was in a bit of a hurry to get going.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the dresser. “I don’t suppose you’ll open it for me and save me some trouble.”

“No.”

“Maybe,” Claire said, and Chris glared at her. “If you’ll tell us where he is.”

“Probably on a boat.”

“The boat exploded,” Chris said.

“There’s always another boat. It’s good to keep moving when you’re stirring up trouble. Keeps the pressure off your assets so they can be useful. Now chop chop, open up.” She tapped the drawer with the back of her heel. 

“That’s a shit answer,” Claire said. 

“That’s the best I can give you.”

“As helpful as always,” Chris said, pointing his gun at her again. 

Ada ignored him, looking down at her nails instead, checking for chips in the polish. “Claire, you’re clearly the brains of this operation, why don’t we just deal with this privately, girl to girl.”

“Listen here, bi-“

“Chris, just do what she says. Wait outside,” Claire said. 

“You can’t be serious!”

“You said yourself we don’t have time to waste.”

Chris holstered his gun and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Ada let out a little chuckle. “And they call us emotional.”

Claire crossed her arms and glared at Ada. “Talk.”

“Leon is fine. He doesn’t need a heroic rescue, he doesn’t want one either. He just wants to start over far away from all of this.”

“I don’t buy it.”

“We’ve been working on this for decades, Claire. This has been the longest job I’ve ever pulled. Just leave him be.”

That part almost sounded like it wasn’t a lie. Claire still didn’t believe her though. “If he wants to start fresh, why do you want his guns?”

“Sentimental reasons.”

“Just give us something, Ada, please.”

“Open it, and I’ll make a call.”

Claire punched in the passcode and the clear cover of the drawer slid back to allow access to the weapons beneath. Ada pulled out a bag and started moving the guns into it. She turned to leave and Claire grabbed her arm. She sighed. She set her phone on top of the dresser, dialled a number, and hit speakerphone. 

“Where are you?” she said, giving Claire a look to keep quiet. 

“In bed,” a man’s voice replied, heavy with sleep. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“No, I’d need to know where you were to answer that.”

“Valid point. Hold on, let me go check.” There was the sound of feet hitting the ground. 

“How is your guest settling in?”

“Sleeping on the couch, if you can believe it. I feel so hurt. Oh, now that is just too cute. Hold on, I need to take a picture.” There was the sound of the phone being shuffled about, a faint click, and then he was back, but still not talking into the phone. “Come on big guy, wake up. He’s going to have a panic attack and murder you if he wakes up and you’re that close. I know, I’m sorry. It did look comfortable.”

“Kade, I don’t have all night.”

“I’m fairly sure you do. I pay you quite well. You’ll appreciate the picture.”

Ada huffed, but Claire caught a slight smile before the mercenary hid it. “Have you figured out where you are?”

“Somewhat. Albert is pouting and locked me out, but I can see where we’re stopping for supplies. I’ll send you the coordinates and we can wait for you there.”

“Sounds good.”

“Oh, and Ada? I suggest you lay low for a bit and don’t accept any work from Umbrella. They’ve gone too far this time.”

Ada glanced at Claire. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t plan on letting them walk away this time. Albert agreed. What was it he said... time to salt the earth.”


End file.
